


Darkly Dawns the Drake

by undying_lilies



Category: Darkwing Duck (Cartoon 1991), DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: AU where Drake adopts Gosalyn BEFORE Duck Knight Returns, Alternate Universe, Dad Drake, Family Fluff, Gen, I love Let's Get Dangerous but I want my Mallard family fluff, and actually became her dad, and how Drake adopted Gos, father-daughter backstory, father-daughter bonding?, so this is kinda how they got to know each other, supposed to be a part of one of my many AUs but works as a standalone AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:41:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29349111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undying_lilies/pseuds/undying_lilies
Summary: Gosalyn Waddlemeyer's already-unexpected life becomes even more unexpected when her school makes a deal with a semi-famous movie studio. At first she doesn't care . . . until she bumps into Drake Mallard, an actor with a small role in the movie. AU where Drake adopts Gosalyn way earlier than in canon and before The Duck Knight Returns.
Relationships: Drake Mallard & Gosalyn Mallard
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	Darkly Dawns the Drake

**Author's Note:**

> Some worldbuilding-type stuff before we start:  
> \- you'll see Portia Featherstone pop up - she's an OC! She's essentially Gosalyn's mom friend and 90% of her impulse control  
> \- this takes place a couple years /before/ the events of DuckTales, so Gosalyn is around ten here  
> \- Professor Waddlemeyer never told Gosalyn what the RAMROD does in this universe . . . unlike canon
> 
> ALSO props to salenaRD because she came up with literally almost the entire plot in one night. It was incredible and I feel like I should somewhat credit her for it XD

When Cormorant Elementary School made a deal with a semi-famous movie studio, the whole school was buzzing with the news in a matter of days.

No one had actually bothered to research what movie they were filming, or how long it would take to film, or if the school was the only location in the movie - everyone was more concerned about if there was a need for extras in this movie and who was on the cast list. And those were things that Gosalyn Waddlemeyer frankly didn’t care about, because starring in a movie shot at her school wasn’t something on her bucket list.

What she _did_ care about were those first three things. She quickly learned that that information was hard to come by, because everyone was much too busy talking about the possibility of being an extra in this movie instead of actual _information_ about the movie. Portia Featherstone had confirmed that, much to Gosalyn’s chagrin. 

“There isn’t a molecule of information about the movie floating around here?” Gosalyn tried. (She’d even used a scientific term in Science class. _Ten points to me.)_

Portia shook her head, her short hair bouncing with every movement. “Don’t you get any ideas, Gosalyn,” she warned as she pulled out her Science binder. “You’ve already gotten into enough trouble.”

“Mrs. Cavanaugh isn’t going to be paying attention to troublemakers when she has a deal to sign with a semi-famous movie studio,” Gosalyn pointed out, reaching for _her_ binder. 

Portia tilted her head thoughtfully. “I suppose so. But,” she added, shooting a look at Gos, “don’t do anything stupid.”

Like anyone was actually going to care, Gosalyn wanted to mumble, but she didn’t. Science was easy for her, anyway; for most of her life she’d been homeschooled by her grandfather, a brilliant scientist and inventor. Now, though . . . it had been almost a year since he’d disappeared - announced dead by his best friend, even - and she’d had to endure the public school system. 

To be fair, he _had_ placed her in a school a year or two before her life had been swiftly dropped in a ditch. He’d been concerned about the fact that Gosalyn wasn’t getting a proper education since his big project required more work than he’d thought, so he enrolled her in a school. He helped her with her homework, he listened to how her day had been - yet he still didn’t find time to explain what his big project actually was.

Not like it mattered at this point, though. 

Gosalyn absentmindedly started chewing on her pencil as the Science teacher began class, an idea forming in her mind. An idea that perhaps ignored all of Portia’s warnings that morning. An idea that was even a little risky, but curiosity killed the cat. 

_Or,_ Gosalyn thought, beginning to smile, _curiosity kills the Gos._

~

A couple weeks later, the principal’s voice came onto the loudspeaker just before classes started. 

_“The studio will begin filming this morning,”_ Mrs. Cavanaugh explained, her voice echoing through the building. _“Students are not to disrupt filming or any of the actors during class hours. Teachers who have volunteered their classes and classrooms for filming will inform their classes ahead of time. Thank you.”_

Immediately chatter arose in the classroom. Was _this_ class being used for filming, they asked? Were any of them extras? Would they be filming here today?

Gosalyn interrupted her class’s excited conversation. “What’s the movie about?”

The teacher frowned at her. “Miss Waddlemeyer, raise your hand next time,” he warned (to which Gosalyn frowned back). “I don’t know what the movie’s about. I didn’t volunteer this class for the movie -” the class minus Gos collectively groaned - “only because we have a _lot_ of material to get through this semester. Get out your books, please.”

As the class reluctantly pulled out their books, Gosalyn’s mind went back to her Idea That Portia Wouldn’t Approve Of. She wanted to take a look at this movie and maybe actually learn some info. Maybe she even wanted to be an extra after all. (She absolutely didn’t, but what harm would it cause if she said it to people she didn’t know real well?) 

She tried it out with Portia at lunch. Which was instantly a mistake; Portia gave Gosalyn a look before stirring soup in a thermos with her spoon. “Gosalyn, you don’t want to be an extra,” Portia said stubbornly.

“What’s to say I’ve changed my mind?” Gosalyn said innocently, reaching into her lunchbox. She grimaced at what her current foster parents had packed her - a tomato-and-ham sandwich on organic, healthy bread. Carrots and ranch. No dessert. 

_Well, that’s what I get for being stuck with foster parents who are health nuts._

Portia raised an eyebrow. “Nice try. That mind trick won’t work on me.”

Gosalyn shrugged nonchalantly and started eating her sandwich. “It was worth a try.”

“Please don’t do what I think you’re going to do,” Portia muttered, eyeing her friend. Gosalyn didn’t answer, but she merely raised her eyebrows at that statement and took another bite of her sandwich.

~

Gosalyn had developed a natural attraction to trouble over the past year. If there was an accident involving broken glass or lightbulb, it probably involved one Gosalyn Waddlemeyer and some sort of sports ball. Something that included spilled art materials that were easy to spill and hard to clean up? That was most likely her fault. Rare were the times when trouble aroused and she _wasn’t_ the one to cause it.

Even being that prone to trouble, Gosalyn didn’t get a chance to see the filming up close until a few days later. 

_That_ had been mostly due to Portia. Any slight instance where Gosalyn glanced at a filming session out of the corner of her eyes or just straight on, Portia whisked her away to her next class or lunch or recess or outside at the end of the day. And Gosalyn had just frowned or narrowed her eyes, and if Portia saw, she didn’t say anything about it.

So it was no wonder that, when Gos finally got a chance to sneak a peek, it was a day when Portia was absent.

The floor with her locker was the lowest level, which happened to be the floor that the movie company was currently filming at today. So when the rest of her class stuffed their books and binders inside their lockers, grabbed their gym clothes, and headed towards the gym, Gosalyn did the same things . . . but she snuck away in the opposite direction of the gym. 

The warning bell rang, but Gosalyn ignored it and walked on her tip-toes, towards the direction of noises that definitely lead to the filming. 

“. . . was nice, Ms. Wood, but let’s take it again from the top!”

Gosalyn poked her head around the corner of a wall.

She noticed three specific ducks at first. The first one was the director - she could tell it was the director because he sat in one of those fold-up actor chairs and he gripped a clipboard, so she figured he must be important at least. The second was a pretty white-feathered duck, her hair styled in a short bob and herself dressed all in pink, standing a few feet away from Gosalyn and holding a stack of papers. 

And the third duck she noticed was an actor dressed in a gray janitor’s uniform, leaning against a janitorial cart and holding a mop. His bill was slightly longer than any of the other actors and his hair stuck up a bit, but somehow Gosalyn figured he very obviously must be a janitor.

The duck in pink glanced up when the director addressed her by “Ms. Wood”, and she nodded. “Got it.”

The director nodded to the cameraman, who instantly readjusted the heavy camera in his hands and aimed it at Ms. Wood. 

The director cleared his throat. _“Action!”_

Ms. Wood started walking down the hallway, appearing distracted as she looked through and shuffled around the stack of papers in her hand. On cue, the janitor actor started mopping up the floor - Ms. Wood’s character didn’t see where she was going and slipped on the wet floor.

“Blegh!” Ms. Wood cried, her papers scattered all over the wet floor. “Oh, no, my _papers_ -”

“Sorry, Miss Winston,” the other actor apologized, offering her a hand. Ms. Wood grabbed it and he pulled her up, and then she almost immediately started picking up the scattered papers. 

“Well,” Ms. Wood muttered, holding a rather wet piece of paper as far away from her as possible, “there goes my reports.” She sighed. “I’ll have to print them again.”

“I can print them for you,” the actor offered. “If you want.”

“No, no, that’s fine.” Ms. Wood dropped the sopping papers into a nearby trash bin, and she turned around, rubbing her head and starting to walk off. “But much appreciated.”

“CUT!” the director called. “Better, Ms. Wood, fantastic. Take ten, everyone, and then we’ll film the janitor talking to Mr. Gander.”

The bustling group of ducks immediately started segregating into separate groups, and chattering almost instantly arose among said groups. It pulled Gosalyn out of her reverie, and she stuck out her tongue at the scene - Portia had had a point, because so far this seemed to be a school movie featuring a harried teacher and an unaware janitor. Sort of a waste of her time, actually - 

A hand grabbed her arm and whirled her around.

A tall, _tall_ duck with gelled-back hair and smart clothes was scowling at her, gripping her arm tighter than she’d ever like. She struggled against his grip, but it was remarkably strong.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded, leaning closer. 

“Trying to find the bathroom!” Gosalyn quickly lied.

“And you _happened_ to be spying on the movie? I think the bathrooms are on the other side of the hallway, _brat.”_ The duck gripped her arm even _tighter_ \- Gosalyn clutched her gym clothes and shoes, regretting that she hadn’t listened to Portia before this and why weren’t you here _now,_ you beautiful overprotective and over-concerned friend -

_“Hey!”_

Gosalyn turned her head so fast that her neck cracked - it was the janitor actor from earlier in the scene, and he stormed up to the two and frowned. He stared at the duck pointedly. “What’s going on?” 

“She was ‘finding the bathroom’,” the duck snapped, gesturing to Gosalyn.

The actor raised an eyebrow. _“And?_ Leave her alone, she’s just a kid.”

Gosalyn clenched her fists, her eyes narrowing. 

_She’s just a kid._

She was _prepared._ She bet she could kick this duck so hard he’d keel over - sure, she might get a detention for kicking an actor, but it was _self-defense,_ Mrs. Cavanaugh, and - 

But then the duck reluctantly let her go, and she stumbled back from the lack of his grip for a second. Without saying anything, the duck cast the janitor actor a dark look and stalked off.

“Sorry about that,” the actor admitted, rubbing his neck. “He’s, um, sorta rude to everyone.”

Gosalyn folded her arms, glowering. “You didn’t need to save me,” she muttered.

The actor frowned. “What?” 

“I can take care of my _self,”_ Gosalyn insisted, her voice growing louder. “I don’t _need_ you to defend me.”

The actor stared at her in disbelief. “Well, that actor shouldn’t have treated you like that!” he retorted, clearly growing offended.

There was a beat of silence. 

Gosalyn bit her tongue. Guilt pooled into her stomach - _fine,_ she admitted to herself. _That was rash._ She’d overreacted to this obviously very nice actor, who was nothing like the first actor.

So she softly mumbled an apology. “. . . thanks.”

And before he could respond, she rushed off to Gym class.


End file.
